Читать книгу Developmental Psychopathology - Группа авторов - Страница 57

Until the late 1950s, there was a tendency to attribute children’s maladjustment to poor parenting; specifically, poor mothering (Thomas & Chess, 1977). Born out of research investigating this assumption was the theory of temperament: the individual differences in behavioral styles, emotions, and characteristic ways of responding. Features of temperament can be observed even in early infancy and include rhythmicity of biological function, approach or withdrawal from new stimuli, adaptability, distractibility, activity level, quality of mood, persistence threshold or attention span, intensity of reaction, and sensory threshold of responsiveness. Such characteristics appear to be strongly heritable, emerge early in life, are relatively consistent across time and situations, and derive from interactions between genetic predispositions, environment, maturation, and individual experiences (Thompson, 1999).

In devising ways to classify children’s temperament and identify long‐term outcomes, Thomas and Chess (1977) identified four basic temperament styles. First, children with easy temperaments are generally of positive moods, adaptable, and persistent. Children who are slow‐to‐warm‐up take longer to adjust to changing circumstances but can adjust, especially if their temperament traits are respected. Children with difficult temperaments are irritable, react adversely, or withdraw when presented with changes in routine. Finally, children with average temperaments do not notably fall into any of these categories. Children with difficult temperaments are more likely to have internalizing and externalizing behavior problems (Lamb et al., 1999).

Another way to classify temperament comes from research by Rothbart and colleagues, who conceptualize temperament in terms of reactivity and self‐regulation. Reactivity reflects how easily a person is aroused by stimuli, measured by the speed of escalation, onset, persistence, and intensity of emotional reactions. Self‐regulation is how reactivity is modulated, including the child’s approach–withdrawal tendencies, soothability, emotion regulation, and adaptability (Rothbart & Bates, 1998; Thompson, 1999).